Minutes of the ordinary meeting held on Wednesday, 19th October, 2016 at

7.00pm. in Dinnington Memorial Institute.

MEMBERS PRESENT: Cllrs. R. Thompson (Chairman); M. Wood (Vice-Chairman); A. Biggins;
A. Dellow; S. Hood; T. Laidler; K. Oliver, S. Phelps; J. Porter.
IN ATTENDANCE Cllr. B. Hunter (Newcastle City Council); and 2 members of the public.

Minute
No.

259.
260.
261.
262.

263.

264.

265.

Agenda Item

Action
Required

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS: The Chairman welcomed everyone.

APOLOGIES: Apologies for absence were received from Cllr. B. Scott, and
Cllr. A. Lower (Newcastle City Council)
DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST: Members were reminded to declare
interests at relevant items.
POLICE ISSUES: PC 509 Lee Parker and PC 3044 Lee Maddison
attended the meeting at approximately 7.50pm. PC Parker gave a report on
5 reported crimes since the last meeting. An alleged assault, the alleged
theft of a motor vehicle, a burglary from a property on North Mason Lodge
and 2 offences by juveniles. Information regarding instances of nuisance
behaviour reported during Members items of concern were passed onto the
police.
OPEN FORUM: Mrs. W Crooks sought confirmation that the fence on the
boundary between East Acres and the Lonnen would be repaired. She was
informed that a department within Newcastle City Council had admitted
responsibility for the upkeep of the fence, but there was at present no time
scale for the repairs to be carried out.
MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING: RESOLVED: That the minutes of the
meeting held on Wednesday 21st September 2016 be agreed as a true
record and signed by the Chair with the following amendments:
248.3 should read: reflector on tree on Brunton Lane and worn markings on
speed humps on Prestwick Road.
249.2 should read: had advised the resident to send a copy of the report to
the school.
253.2 should read: and a grant from Banks Mining.
255.3 remove the text : under section 137 of the Local Government Act
MATTERS ARISING:
243. Cllr Hunter stated that according to the secretary of the council leader
an e mail should have already been sent, as this had not been received he
agreed to follow this up
248.2 Confirmation that the branches had been trimmed.
254 Cllr Biggins enquired if the reports not received at the September
meeting due to lack of time would be considered during this evenings
meeting.
1

Cllr.
Hunter

266.
266.1

266.2

266.3

266.4

266.5

266.6

267

268.

269.

271.

MEMBERS ITEMS OF CONCERN:

Cllr. Hood reported that a resident had complained about the detritus on
the road outside the Raj restaurant as the result of the washing out of
waste bins. The resident was happy to raise the issue with the staff himself.
Cllr. Hood reported that the refuse vehicle had been unable to access the top
of Sycamore Avenue on Tuesday 18th October despite the new road layout
because of badly parked vehicles.
Cllr. Dellow reported that complaints had been received about mud on the Cllr. Wood
road from the Bellway site. Cllr. Wood asked if it would be worth him trying
to get a local contact for Bellway to speed up the resolution of future issues.
It was agreed that he should.
Cllr. Dellow reported that complaints had been received about the number of
Cllr.
temporary advertising boards which were appearing on the village green. Thompson
Cllr. Thompson agreed to contact the city planners regarding the matter
Cllr. Porter reported complaints had been received about a group of juveniles
carrying out nuisance behaviour and acts of vandalism on Church Close and
Havannah Crescent. Cllr Laidler mentioned that he too had received a
complaint from a resident of Sycamore Avenue about a similar incident in
that street. Information was given to PC Parker and PC Maddison.
Cllr. Thompson reported that injury had occurred to a resident of Oak
Avenue because of an accident with a mobility scooter when the wheel had
become lodged in a gap in the pavement.
DINNINGTON FIRST SCHOOL: Cllr. Thompson read out a copy of a letter
from the Headmistress dated from 2007 stating that a member of the PC was
no longer required on the board of governors. Cllr. Oliver, (chairman of the
governors at Hazlewood School ) gave members a synopsis of the duties
and responsibilities of being on a school governing body- a demanding role.
Cllr. Oliver would contact the Headmistress to clarify the current position
where they were now asking if a member of the PC would consider
becoming a school governor, but is unwilling himself to become a governor
at the school.
CORRESPONDENCE: Correspondence received during the previous month
was as follows, An e mail dated 12th October from Cllr.Gill Smith tendering
her resignation as a Parish Councillor.
A letter received from Mr and Mrs Fenwick enquiring if the Parish Council
were willing to sell land to the west of Carr Gate Cottage. It was agreed that
the land is not to be sold.
PLANNING APPLICATIONS: Only 1 application had been received and
there were no objections. Cllr. Biggins made the point that decisions cannot
be made outside PC meetings.
UPDATES:

PCs
Parker &
Maddison

Cllr. Oliver

Cllr.
Thompson

271.1

271.2

271.3
271.4
271.5

271.6

271.7

272.

Donkey Field - Cllr. Wood reported that Keepmoat Homes are to enforce
the no right turn ruling for vehicles leaving the site and to erect signage to
this effect, remind all lorry drivers that traffic must approach from and exit to
the south of the site with no construction traffic through the village. They will
also ensure that the road is cleaned of mud tracked out of the site by
vehicles. Cllr. Biggins reported that cars were using the layby opposite the
site rather than the onsite car park and that wagons waiting to enter the site
were also parking there on occasion. Cllr. Phelps commented that the signs
regarding the parking of wagons had either disappeared or been moved.
Cllr. Wood confirmed that photographs of the offending vehicles had been
forwarded to the contractor.
Bellway Augusta Drive- Ground works progressing.
Persimmon Site Contractor hoped (if Planning permission was granted)
to start work on the site by Easter 2017.
Village Hall - Cllr. Porter informed members that the next fundraising event
would be the NTC production of Little Red Riding Hood on 13th January
2017.
Newsletter The deadline for content for the next edition is 16th November
2016.
Library Nothing to report.
Northumbria in Bloom/Adopt a Planter - Cllr. Wood reported that the
prize giving the previous evening had been well attended by volunteers.
Dinnington were awarded silver plus the Whickham trophy and 50 for being
the most improved entry. It was suggested that the certificates and trophy
be loaned to the school to display for 2 months and following discussion it
was proposed by Cllr.Wood, seconded by Cllr.Dellow and passed
unanimously that the 50 prize money be given to the school to help with
their gardening project, subject to being put on the agenda and subsequent
ratification at the next meeting.
Allotments A discussion took place following a reminder e mail received Cllr. Wood
earlier in the day from David Grimshaw, Planning Officer, Newcastle City
Council regarding the possibility of the provision of additional allotments at
the PC site in Dinnington using transferred S106 contributions. Cllr. Biggins
was asked and agreed to digitise the area to see if there was sufficient land
for the proposed 16 allotments and it was resolved that Cllr. Wood contact
David Grimshaw to progress the matter.
Website - Cllr. Laidler confirmed that the website is up-to-date. He pointed
out that following the resignation of the Parish Clerk the situation was back to
1 person being responsible for the website and that we were currently
running two websites simultaneously (Spanglefish and Weebly, which had a
link to Spanglefish), whilst we were trialling Spanglefish. It was resolved that
for the interim we continue as we are.
REPORTS: A report from Banks Mining Liaison Committee had previously
been circulated. The NALC County Committee minutes for the meeting on
10th September 2016 had also been circulated.
Cllr. Phelps gave a report to members with regard to a meeting of 3
members of the PC, Cllr. Anita Lower and 3 members of the planning
department held at the Civic Centre on Monday 26 th September 2016. The
purpose of the meeting being to reinforce the need for improvements to the
3

273.

274.
274.1

275

275.1

healthcare facilities in Dinnington and to try and explain why the Ponteland
practice had previously declined funding due to a misunderstanding about
what was on offer. Cllr. Lower suggested that a meeting should be
considered between members of the PC and personnel from Persimmon
Homes.
Cllr. Wood gave a report of the subsequent meeting with Persimmon
Homes on Thursday 13th October 2016, which was attended by 5 members
of the PC, plus Cllr. Anita Lower, giving details obtained from Mr. Jordan of
Persimmon of S106 payments and his confirmation that correspondence
from Northumberland Clinical Commissioning Group requesting funding in
the sum of 120K had been received.
Cllr. Biggins requested that a synopsis of the events to date with regard to
trying to obtain 106 funding for improvements to the doctors be produced.
WW1 CENTENARY EVENT: Cllr.Phelps enquired if there was an appetite
amongst members of the PC to commemorate the centenary of WW1
possibly in 2018 the centenary of the armistice. A discussion followed and
it was felt that a small, rather than village wide event might be more
feasible. There was a suggestion that a plaque could be installed at the
Keepmoat development, Sheraton Park, explaining that the streets bear
the names of those men from the parish who gave their lives in the conflict.
Cllr Phelps agreed to investigate this possibility.
FINANCIAL MATTERS:
Members approved and authorised the signing of
cheques in payment of invoices received and
presented at the meeting:Dinnington Village Social Welfare Committee
Subsidy approved 21.09.2016 4000.00 CHQ975
Clerks Salary (Sept)
222.54 CHQ976
HMRC PAYE&NI Qtr.2
167.00 CHQ977
Thirsk Community Care
Payroll Preparation (Jul-Sep) 48.00 CHQ978
It was decided after a discussion to refer to the
annual donation to the Village Hall as a "subsidy"
in future.
EXCLUSION OF THE PRESS AND PUBLIC:
In accordance with section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972 it
was RESOLVED that the press and public be excluded from the meeting
during consideration of the following items of business that it involved the
likely disclosure of exempt information.
The Chairman gave members a briefing on the circumstances which led to
the resignation of the Parish Clerk and the Parish Councils acceptance of
his resignation. He also outlined how we would proceed in the interim
It was proposed, seconded and agreed by all present to offer the 150
previously allocated for a new printer to the Clerk as recompense for all of
the printing he had carried out for the Parish Council, whilst he was Parish
Clerk.
4

Appointment of New Clerk: Cllr Wood proposed and Cllr Dellow seconded
and it was agreed by all present that we reform the same subgroup as we
used last year to appoint our recent Clerk and that the subgroup are given
the mandate to carry out the following :(Cllr Laidler advised he no longer wished to participate in the subgroup)
a)
To approach any of the other candidates we interviewed last year to
see if they are still suitable and interested.
b)
Consider previous clerks if they are available, still suitable and
interested
c)
Re-advertise the post if necessary in the press, Newcastle CC,
Northumberland CC, NALC and carry out interviews etc
We would come back to the PC with a candidate for approval, before
appointing anyone.
276.

277.

ITEMS FOR THE NEXT AGENDA: that the 50 prize money from
Northumbria in Bloom be given to the school to help with their gardening
project.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING: Wednesday 16th November 2016 at 7.00 p.m.

278.

CONCLUSION OF MEETING: The meeting closed at 9.20 p.m.